Congress Continues Not to Care About Phone Scams Aimed at Elderly

The Wall Street Journal has an article today about the massive spike in robocall phone scams, mostly aimed at the elderly. Luckily, there are several well-known ways that phone companies could put a stop to this. So what’s happening on that front?

The FCC is strongly encouraging phone carriers to offer customers technology that aims to detect robotic calls and stop them before getting through, said an agency spokesman. Carriers are “working toward that goal,” said Kevin Rupy, vice president of law and policy at USTelecom, a trade association.

Excellent. The FCC is “strongly encouraging” telcos to do something. And the telcos are “working toward” doing something. Someday. Maybe.

Sounds like a job for Congress. Since telcos obviously don’t plan on actually doing anything unless they’re forced to, it’s time to force them. Of course, that would require Congress to actually do something. During an election year. Can’t have that, can we? Gotta keep the oldsters nice and angry. Maybe next year.